Amstel Gold Race winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will not race at La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, with his full focus on Liège-Bastogne-Liège and his next showdown with defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Evenepoel had left the door open following his two-up sprint victory ahead of Mattias Skjelmose in the Dutch Limburg on Sunday, saying at the finish, “I have to wait and see how I recover, but I certainly don’t feel broken. I would definitely like to race [at Fleche]”.
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“He will not participate in order to recover from the Amstel and will thus focus fully on Liège-Bastogne-Liège,” read a statement from the team to Sporza.
While Evenepoel had planned to race at the 90th edition of the mid-week race, Flèche is the Ardennes Classic least-suited to his characteristics, with previous results of ninth last season and 43rd in 2022 in his two appearances taking on the iconic Mur de Huy.
He’ll return to Liège on Sunday as a former two-time winner and the main rival to three-time winner Pogačar, who dominated the race 12 months ago and won solo, more than a minute ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in second.
Also expected to feature in the Monument’s star-studded duel are the likes of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and rising French star Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who will likely be the big favourite for Flèche in Evenepoel’s absence.
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